


Employable Skills

by Milly_Blank



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Future Fic, Happy Azula (Avatar), Lesbian Azula (Avatar), Lesbian Ty Lee (Avatar), Loss of Bending Ability, Mercenary Azula, a little over ten years after the war, doesn't really follow the comics at all, exiled Azula
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:34:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25925965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Milly_Blank/pseuds/Milly_Blank
Summary: Ty Lee is finding her current assignment incredibly boring, until she sees an old familiar aura.
Relationships: Azula & Ty Lee (Avatar), Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Azula/Ty Lee (Avatar)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 131





	1. Chapter 1

The Governor of Gaoling was a very dull man. Dull and paranoid. He had demanded Kyoshi warriors to guard him. There had been rumors that those in his own court were growing tired of his style of leadership and wanted him dead. So he threw whatever money and resources he had at the problem and now Ty Lee spent her nights paroling the halls outside the governor's door. 

Firelord Zuko had recently moved to employing more traditional royal guards these days so the Kyoshi Warriors' presence in the fire nation capital was shrinking and Ty Lee felt it best she seek need horizons. See new sights. Find new adventure. But instead she's in a dull part of the Earth Kingdom, in a dull man's house, trying to maintain her professionalism. 

The governor was in bed, and Ty Lee was making her ninth circuit around the halls near his chambers when suddenly a masked figure was standing at the end of the hall. Ty Lee unfurled her fan with a quick motion and got into position. Then suddenly she looked at the masked person's aura and her whole body froze. 

"Azula?..."

The figure took a slow stroll down the corridor, their hands hovering over their hips. "Hello, Ty Lee. No time to catch up. I have a governor to kill." She said, her golden eyes peaking out behind the holes in a tightly pulled cloth mask tucked into her collar. Then in an instant Azula bounded against the wall and up over Ty Lee and back on her feet behind her. And Ty Lee just watched her sprint down the hall and into the shadows. 

The Governor was found stabbed to death in his private bathroom. 

* * * * * 

Ty lee sat in the Kyoshi warrior tent set up outside of the Governor's mansion. It rested on a small hill that look out on the busy downtown section of Gaoling. Ty Lee's assignment had come to a very quick end and she had no one to blame but herself. She told her commander as much. She told her she had become lost in her thoughts and wasn't as sharp as she should have been, which was technically true. But for some reason she couldn't bring herself to mention Azula being the assassin. It was incredibly important information but instead she said nothing and took her talking to and decided to mope until she was reassigned. 

That was the plan until she noticed someone lean against the tent's entrance. Ty lee turned to face her and let her jaw drop open for a moment and then stutter out, "A-Azula?"

"Hello, Ty lee." That familiar smirk was stretched across her face. Her bright golden eyes were the same as ever, even if there were more lines around the edges. She didn't wear any make up and somehow it made her look older. Her hair was also cut incredibly short, barely long enough to brush against her earlobes. She was also dressed in simple peasant's clothes. Pants, a tunic and a light cloak. She was the girl she knew but in the guise of woman she could barely recognize. It made her stomach flutter.

"What are you doing here?" 

"I told you I was too busy to catch up last night. Now I'm not, so, now I'm here." She said aloofly. "I was wondering if you wanted to go for a walk." Her grin became less razor sharp and softened into a smile Ty lee can't remember ever seeing on Azula's face. 

There was a long silence as Azula looked at her, her eyes burrowing into her. Finally Ty lee let out a breath. "Okay." 

"Wonderful!" Azula lifted out her arm as Ty lee got closer and gently wrapped it around the Kyoshi Warrior's waist. Ty lee could feel her face flush, but she simply continued out of the tent. Azula leaned in. "No saying my name until we're alone again."

"I know Azula. I'm not stupid." She huffed. 

Azula's smile grew a little as she looked up at her. "Of course you're not." She pulled Ty lee closer to her hip and they started to make their way down the hill. 

"The governor was killed with a knife...not firebending...trying to be discreet?"

"No...I had my bending taken...I asked it not made common knowledge --for my pride-- I suppose..." She stated flatly. 

Ty lee studies her eyes and her aura a moment and leans into her as they walk.

It was then that Ty Lee noticed how much taller she had gotten than Azula. Azula was always more petite but it seems being locked away for years kept her from growing much more at all. She looks older but still as small as she was at fifteen. She was now a good four inches taller. Yet, somehow leaning on her like this didn't feel awkward.

"We thought it was a professional attack. Is that what you do now?"

"I have very limited employable skills. Luckily for me, there are still people who need people like me. Even in peace time..." Azula said matter-of-factly. "I'm quite in demand."

"So...are you only paid to kill people?"

"No. Not only. Sometimes I sell charcoal sketches..."

Ty lee giggles, despite herself.

They walk for a moment in silence as they reach the main road and stroll down the walkway, by dozens of little shops and stands. A thought lingers in Ty lee's mind as they sidle past an old woman trying to corral a few unruly children. 

"If someone paid you--handsomely--to kill me...would you?"

Azula is quiet a moment. "I've thought about that....I still don't know....depends on how this evening goes I suppose."

"What's going to happen this evening?" 

Azula leans in and nibbles lightly on Ty lee's ear a moment and the leaves her mouth pressed against it. "Practically anything..." Azula let out a soft giggle and pulled back, her grip on Ty lee's waist firming a moment. 

"You always told me being intimate with another woman was 'disgusting'...." Ty lee said, her words coming out somewhere between a hiss and a whisper. 

"Yes well...I've rethought some things. Come to new conclusions. Father is dead. I no longer have a title or expected to provide heirs. I have a dangerous job that may kill me at any moment so I thought...why not let myself fuck some women." She grins like a snake as Ty lee flushes.

"I see." Is all she could manage to get out. She listens to Azula chuckle quietly. They find a small courtyard with families taking strolls around a few beautifully bended fountains. Azula slides her hand off of Ty lee's waist and holds it out for her to take. She guides her to a bench and they sit and watch the people for a moment. 

Ty lee places her hand, palm up, on Azula's leg and she returns the gesture, placing her, smaller scarred hand in hers. It was then that Ty lee noticed Azula's nails were blunt and cracked. Azula used to pride herself on her nails, but now her hands looked worn and callused. She had a peasant's hands. 

"Yes I know they're different." Azula said as if reading Ty lee's mind. "I ruined my nails in the asylum and since being exiled I've been working too much to bother with the upkeep." Her smile was surprisingly sad. Ty lee was used to relying on auras to read Azula but it seems like she wasn't even bothering with hiding her emotions. 

"Now that your...job...is done where will you go?" Ty lee asks still watching the townspeople instead of looking at Azula. 

"Don't know. Though I do have quite a bit of gold burning a hole in my purse. I've been camping for the last two weeks, so I think we should find the finest inn here and just....relax. I know my muscles are aching." Azula emphasized her words by popping her neck and shoulder joints very loudly. "Would it be poor taste to live it up while the province mourns?"

Ty lee gave a weak shrug and then focused on Azula's wording. "'We'? Is a warm bath our evening plans?"

"...I'm sure it'll be on itinerary." There was that wide smirk again. The smile with fangs. Azula leaned into Ty lee and felt her stomach twist and flutter again. Could ten years change a person so drastically? She supposed she wasn't who she was ten years ago. She's wizened, at least she'd hope so. She often feels just as bored as she did when she was fourteen...when she wasn't in the action. 

Ty lee rested her chin on Azula's shoulder. "What are you now? A mercenary? An assassin? Hired muscle?" She mused.

"I am all those things. For a price. But ultimately I am whatever I want to be." Azula let out a breath. "I dedicated the first seventeen years of my life to my father and my nation...but now. I have no father. I have no nation. I am free. A rouge agent, Ty Lee. And it feels powerful."

Azula's eyes shined brightly, as if her extinguished fire still lived inside those irises. In the asylum, the few times she saw her there, her eyes were dull and lifeless even as she screamed furiously at her or was spitting fire at the people only she could see. Here in this moment, dirty, selling her talents to the highest bidder, she never looked happier. Her aura was a golden ray of light. 

Ty lee pulled her head off of Azula's shoulder and gently tucked her finger under her chin. She guided the exiled princess' head up so she could look at her. They both gazed at each other a moment and Azula's eyes grew soft. Ty lee leaned in and kissed Azula gently, but passionately. 

Their lips pulled apart and they rested their foreheads together."Come with me, Ty lee. I am going to claw my face into the nightmares of a thousand men...and I want you beside me." Azula whispered gently. 

"Oh Azula....you romantic..." Ty lee whispered back. 

Azula took her hand again and led her to her feet. They slowly sauntered out of the courtyard and back out into street before slipping away into an alleyway in search of an inn.


	2. Chapter 2

The week long journey from Gaoling to the small forest village was uneventful. It mostly involved quiet walks and gentle caresses. Ty Lee hadn't brought up much about their past. She wanted to create a solid beginning before she tried to dredge that mess up again. Plus, she couldn't bring herself to bring down Azula's mood. 

They made love quite a few times in that inn in Gaoling and then several more times during the trip. Ty Lee hardly thought about how she had left her post without telling a soul. She wasn't certain anyone would be looking for her, but she frankly didn't care. The Kyoshi warriors were wonderful to her, but now she had a new path. One she hopes she won't regret taking. 

Azula's rough hand gripped hers. These hands have proven as delicately nimble as they always were. The raw dexterity developed from years of moving her flames between her fingers as an idle pastime. It also taught control. Azula seemed to often be transfixed by her own blue flames twirling at the flick of her fingers, sending a cold hue on her perfect nails. Both things were gone now. 

Those hands also were firm. They commanded her body when they were intimate and held her gently while they rested. It was a strange sensation. She thought she had known all of Azula. But time and circumstance has made even the familiar bits new somehow. The same traits in a new color. 

Her petite frame, once highlighted with spots of definition, now was coated in a layer of tight muscle. Without her bending, Azula had to rely purely on her body. She was a small, smirking coil of raw strength. And thinking about that strength made Ty Lee weak in her knees. 

They reached the gate welcoming them to the village. Azula leaned in, like she had anytime they entered a new town or village, and whispered. "Don't use my name until we're alone."

Ty Lee let out a huff. "I know. Why do you say that every time? I understand the situation."

"Because, one day, someplace, you will be able to say my name in front of polite company again." She smirked a moment and then her brows furrowed. They didn't say anything more as they reached a tea house at the corner of a two story building. 

An old woman was moving around the room, surprisingly nimbly, pouring cups for customers when she looked up and noticed Azula. Her face brightened. "Fan, dear! You're back! "

Azula grinned and gave a small bow. "Madam Zhu. How are the terrors?"

Madam Zhu gave a long sigh. "Impossible. I barely can get any work out of them before they nearly tear this whole place apart trying to get to the other. I sent them out back to cut and load firewood, spirits knows if they've managed to rip the forest down..."

Azula chuckled. Madam Zhu gave a nod to her customers and wandered over. She noticed Ty Lee. "Oh. And who might this be, Fan?" 

Azula flushed a bit and pulled Ty Lee closer, pressing their hips together. "This is Ty Lee."

Ty Lee gave a gentle bow, smiling wide. "Nice to meet you Madam Zhu! Your tea room is beautiful."

Madam Zhu gave her a small knowing smile and then shrugged. "This place? It's a dump." She chuckled. She started heading toward the back of the house, gesturing for Azula and Ty Lee to follow. 

She led them out back to find a pair of girls slinging rocks at each other with earth bending. They were leaving splintering holes in the trees behind the tea house, as they danced to avoid the other's attacks. The girls couldn't have been older than eight or nine years old and yet had intense power and control. 

Ty Lee watched them slide across ramps of earth to avoid falling, and letting them dodge the larger and larger rocks flying their way. Madam Zhu simply watched alternating between warmly smiling at their antics and genuinely concerned that her whole tea shop was going to be ripped apart by children.

"They're really good..." Ty Lee found herself muttering to no one in particular. 

"Ning and Rong. My grandchildren." Madam Zhu said, bursting with pride."It's said they're prodigies."

Ty Lee felt Azula stiffen at the word. She let her hand fall and interlock her fingers with Azula's. Her body loosened and she leaned against Ty Lee. Then, suddenly, just as her body had found its way back to Ty Lee's it was gone again. A huge clump of earth smashed against the pile of wood behind them.

Ning shouted from behind a tree. "Hey! How do you always dodge so good for a nanny?!" Rong giggled and flattened the craters they had left with a single stomp and swing of her hand, paving over all the holes. 

"I'm not a nanny! I just always end up watching you brats!" Azula shouted, a wide smile on her face. "Now get over here and meet, Ty Lee. She's staying with me so get used to seeing this bright shinny face." Azula looked up at Ty Lee and grinned. Ty Lee smiled back. 

"Nice to meet you both!" She said cheerily. "Wanna see a cool trick?" The girls looked at each other and nodded. Ty Lee did a front flip onto her hands and walked up to a short stone barrier and pushed off her hands and hopped up, maintaining her handstand, as she landed on top of the barrier. She then rolled her legs forward, and onto her feet, walking the narrow space with ease. 

As the earthbending prodigies watched, clapping and cheering Ty Lee's feats of acrobatics, Madam Zhu gave a gentle bump to Azula's shoulder. "So, Fan....an acrobat, huh? This the one that ran away to the circus?"

Azula chuckled. "Yeah..." 

"Hmm...I hope she treats you right."

"She will. I'm the one that has the bad history..."

Madam Zhu folded her arms. "History's history. At least you have her now, huh?"

"Yeah. I'm going to fuck it up somehow...."

Madam Zhu shrugged. "Probably. But, if you work at it, are patient and understanding...I think this girl will come back to you."

"She already has once....I don't want to try her....she's more deadly than she looks."

The old woman laughed. "That woman looks like living sunshine." Then she studied her doing cartwheels along the stone walls, while her grandchildren watched from seats they bended out of earth. "She's in your line of work?"

"No. Highly trained though. She also knows how to work. I don't know how long she'll stand to be near me. We haven't talk much about..that history...yet. "

Madam Zhu nods. "She can help keep an eye on the girls. I assume I won't have to find her her own bed?"

Azula just looked at her and grinned. 

* * * * * * 

"Rong take this tray of jasmine tea to table four!" Madam Zhu shouted, gently placing a simple looking porcelain teapot on a tray along with three cups. Rong let out a long sigh, and let the small pebble she was bouncing between her palms fall to the table in front of her. 

"Yes, granny...." She huffed and took the tray. Azula watched Ty Lee watch her as she slipped behind the curtain and back into the main room. Ning was in the corner trying to do a handstand like she'd see Ty Lee do, but kept toppling over and nearly hitting Madam Zhu. The girl fell forward and made the porcelain behind her rattle as she plopped onto the ground. 

"...This is harder than earthbending....How many hours did you spend getting good at it, miss Ty Lee?"

Ty lee tapped her chin, smiling her bright smile. "Oh! A really long time! I would just spend hours on my hands! The tough bit was figuring out the balance. If my balance is off I can't do much of anything! Understanding how to shift and find your balance is important. No matter what position you're in, how you're contorted or turned, find your balance and shift to maintain it."

Ning gave a less than confident nod to her answer and went back to trying to do a handstand. 

"Hey, little miss, if you fall and kick your grandmother there'll be no more handstands in the house." Azula warned.

"None at all?!" Ty Lee said, playfully shocked. 

"Of course Ty Lee excluded." She grinned and Azula gave a little bump to her shoulder. They then melded into a tight embrace. 

Ning looked at them from her upside down position. "Ugh. You two are gross. So lovey dovey. Get a room!" She made a mock disgusted face, and giggled. 

"They have a room." Madam Zhu said plainly. "They're allowed to be lovey dovey outside of it. When you're older you'll find out how nice it is to not have to hide your affections because someone might find it 'gross'."

Ning's face scrunched up in thought, as she let her hand walk forward to stabilize herself. "...okay...but if they start making out I'm gonna scream."

Madam Zhu put a kettle over the fire and then turned her head out toward the main room. "What is Rong doing? How long does it take to pour three cups of tea?"

"She's probably hustling someone." Ning said simply.

"Hustling?" Ty Lee looked to Azula who just gave a half shrug. 

"She's really good at it." Azula said, clearly proud. "She has a stone ball, painted to look like metal, in stone cups and she moves them around with her hands. When the mark guesses right she bends the ball so it becomes part of the cup. I, of course, spotted it right away..." 

"You spent hours watching her when no one was looking and then pretended to get it on the first try then?" Ty Lee said with her usual cheerfulness, even as she gave a knowing look to Azula, and smiled. 

"Whatever..." Azula mumbled. 

Ty Lee cupped Azula's face. "Awww. Fan, don't be like that. I know about your intense need to be the smartest person in the room."

Azula looked down at the floor. "I remember when you used to tell me I WAS the smartest person in the room. Always."

Ty Lee, still holding Azula's face in her hands, give a light shrug. "I figured you wouldn't need reminding anymore. You were so insecure when you were young." 

"Ty Lee...."

Ty Lee leaned forward and planted a gentle kiss on Azula's forehead. "I'm just being silly, Fan...I mean it..."

"I know.." Azula mumbles. Ty Lee leans down and kisses Azula's lips gently. 

"What did I say about making out?!" Ning said, pretending to retch from her increasingly shaky looking handstand. 

Suddenly there was shouting coming from that man tea room. "HEY! THAT KID CHEATED!"

"Fuck." Madam Zhu muttered quietly as she grabbed Azula from Ty Lee's embrace and pulled her with her through the curtain closing off the front of the house from the back. 

"Alright! Alright! That's enough for today, you little con artist." Ty Lee heard Azula saying from behind the wall.

Ning just giggled as she let her handstand go and she flopped flat onto the floor. The room was full with the sound of rattling porcelain. 

* * * * * *

"How did you even find your line of work?" Ty Lee asked that night, looking up at Azula from the ground. Her gray eyes poking out under her eyelashes. The girls had gone to bed and Madam Zhu had fixed them some reheated broth before heading to bed herself, leaving the two out behind the tea house alone. Azula had lit a small fire, with flint and tinder, in a small pit near where they cut wood. 

Azula lifted her bowl of broth up as she let out a snort of laughter. "I'm a princess! Even half-mad and desperate," She took a deep gulp from her bowl and then wiped her lips with the back of her wrist in a very un-princess like way. "I will always know how to find an assassin." She grinned her sharp toothed grin.


	3. Chapter 3

Azula was splitting firewood in the late afternoon when Ty Lee lead Ning and Rong out into the back to teach them how to do back flips. She watched from her position by the woodpile as Ty Lee, a bright wide smile on her face explained the basics, gesturing with her arms. God that woman was enthusiastic. She loved her. 

Azula wiped the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand, and smiled. She picked up another log and swung the axe. When she finished her motion, throwing the cut pieces off the block, she noticed Ty Lee watching her. Azula couldn't help staring straight at her and biting her lips. The way Ty Le flustered made Azula laugh loudly. 

"What's her problem?" Rong asked, climbing up from a patch of soft sand from a failed back flip attempt. 

Ty Lee just sighed through her blush. "Lots of things....she's so cute though...."

"Yuck." Ning said. "Stop gushing about your wife or whatever and show us how to do it again, miss Ty Lee."

Ty Lee stammered. "She's not my wife...she's my...companion." She says. 

Rong and Ning shared a look and then Ning shrugged. "Whatever. Just show us again!" They both began to clap to encourage her to do another flip for them. 

* * * * *

After only a week into their stay at the tea house a parcel comes for Azula. "Fan! You got something!" Madam Zhu shouted, some customers clearly startled by the sudden yelling. Azula came out from the back, drying a tea cup with a rag. 

It's a small box wrapped in brown paper. She eyes the postage markings. "Thank you, Madam Zhu." Azula sets down the cup and takes the package with her outside. She walks out into the woods and opens the box revealing a porcelain money-bat dressed in fire nation armor. She looks at the bottom and sees a stamp. She had a new job already. 

She smashed the money-bat against and tree revealing a purse of gold and a wad of parchment. She unfurled it and reading it shook her. Her target...She's never refused a job before. She didn't think she ever would have to. But of course the universe plays cruel jokes on her. 

"Oh Zuzu..." Azula mumbled to herself as she let the pieces of porcelain fall into the earth and grinds them under her boot. "...it always comes back to you, doesn't it?"

Azula memorized her orders and then burned the paper over a bonfire after everyone had gone to sleep. Before sunrise she was packing her bags. Ty Lee caught her before she could leave the room. 

"You have a job already?" Ty Lee asks sleepily from the mattress. Azula just nods. Ty Lee studies her a moment, and her sleepiness seemed to instantly evaporate. "What's wrong?"

Azula finishes tying her bed roll to her pack and the plops down next to Ty Lee. "...Zuko's in Ba Sing Se for some diplomatic summit..." She sighs. "I've been paid to kill him..."

Ty Lee looks at her. "'Zula...."

"I know."

Azula leaned against Ty Lee who wraps her arm around her. "I should have known the spirits would have done this to me...I never get to catch a break..." Azula nearly whispered. 

"Are you going to do it?" Ty Lee nearly whispers back. 

"I'll know when I see him. I trust myself to know then..." Azula said quietly, but firmly.

Ty Lee pulled Azula fully into her arms. They stay that way a moment, Ty Lee's chin resting on top of Azula's head. Ty Lee hummed a calming slow hum. Azula melted into her embrace. After a long silence Ty Lee spoke. "Well...tell him I say hi." She finally says. 

Azula just laughed quietly. 

* * * * * 

Fire Lord Zuko was exhausted. He had spent hours working with King Kuei to figure out how to stop the attacks on former fire nation colonies. Earth kingdom militia groups have been attacking communities of firebenders and anyone with ties to the fire nation and slaughtering them outright. Towns who have blended into a harmonious mix of firebenders and earthbenders over the last century are now living in fear of raids. It's like the war never ended. 

And it was exhausting. Zuko quickly learned that being Firelord was exhausting. And so, now, he's returning to his rooms in the Earth Palace, desperately wanting to just curl up in his bed and sleep. But, of course, he can't because his exiled sister is sitting in the parlor. 

"Hello Zuko." She grinned, sipping a cup of tea. She looked at Zuko leaned against the door, his body tense. "Join me? It's jasmine." She said simply. 

Zuko studies his sister. She looks...different. He supposed that was to be expected. He knew the lengths you had to go to to not be recognized when you're on the run. But her eyes seemed warmer. Her posture was much more relaxed. Her hair was scraggly and short, and her face and arms were dotted with knife wound scars and burn marks. What had she been doing for the last eight years?

"...Fine..." He mumbled and sat across from Azula. She finishes her cup and then pours him one then herself her second. Azula leaned back and took a drink so Zuko drinks from his. It was surprisingly good. "What do you want Azula?"

Her grin softened. "I've been paid to kill you." She pulled a purse of gold from her cloak and tossed it on the table in front of them. "Not nearly enough for stabbing a head of state to death if you ask me, but that's beside the point..."

Zuko's whole body tensed. "The tea?...."

Azula sipped from her cup. "Not poisoned. I don't use poison, I'm not Ursa." She stated, a familiar bitterness just under the surface. "I use knives. Not as well as Mai, but then again...she always had a talent..." She says, almost wistfully. "If my bosses chose me then they wanted blood. Someone wants you to suffer. To send a message."

Zuko takes a moment and then takes another drink. "Do you know who hired you?"

Azula shrugged. "Usually it's anonymous. I'm sent my fee along with instructions and any ...requests...I don't ask questions. That's why I'm employed."

"Do you think they know who you were when they hired you?"

Azula looked at her tea. "That's what I've been trying to figure out....if they do then that's an issue....But that's not important. How's the family? Mai doing well? Izumi's nearly four right? Must be a hand full..."

Zuko sighed. "What are you doing, Azula?"

"Catching up. I mean it's been a long time since I've been exiled. I've tried to keep up with current events, but...Fire Nation news is slow to reach the Earth Kingdom...I can't watch the court from behind the curtains like I used to." She nervously smiled.

That was it. She was nervous. He'd never seen Azula nervous. Not even in the asylum. She always seemed so self assured. Always seemed to be know what she wanted, always knowing how things would play out. But watching her now, her fingers fidgeting on her teacup, he knew something was different. 

"Izumi's adorable." He said simply, a small smile spreading across his lips. Azula seemed to relax at this. Her grin growing. Usually when he saw his sister smile it meant he was going to end up being burned. Her smile was a predator's smile. But right now it was sincere. "She tells the most imaginative stories. Weird, strange stuff. And she just seems to get lost in it. A little storyteller."

"Sounds like Uncle." She barked out a laugh before letting out a few soft chuckles follow. "I miss that stupid old man..."

"You're in Ba Sing Se. His tea shop is a forty minute train ride from here." Zuko says simply. 

Azula let out a slow sigh. "I don't know if I can look at him. Lots of...conflicting emotions..." She stated simply. "If I go in that shop I'm not sure which of us would kill the other first."

"Uncle would never kill you, Azula." Zuko said sternly. He had gotten very good at his stern voice over the last decade. 

Azula slouched back letting her legs spread wide in a position Zuko's never seen her sister in. She looked like a sailor lounging at a sea port tavern, not the former crown princess of the fire nation. "I suppose you're right Zuzu...I know he'd be tempted though. I don't think he'd approve of my current occupation. Being a monster for coin instead of for country." She gave a half shrug and then sipped her tea. 

"Why did you join your trade then?" He had gotten better at speaking in metaphor over the last decade, still it sounded silly to talk that way with his sister and not some shady councilman. "You could have joined a fishing boat or something. Clearly you've relaxed on the whole 'royal standards' thing." 

She summoned up a sort of caricature of her fourteen year old self. A stiff, firm posture, her chin high, and a wicked grin that seemed more sarcastic than menacing. "Oh dear brother what do you mean? Only the best for the soon to be crown princess of the fire nation." She held the pose for a moment and then fell back into a slouch and let out a loud laugh. "I was such a tool..." Azula muttered. She let her eyes wander to the ceiling a moment. "I still have dreams where I'm her. That special weapon daddy lovingly crafted...." She shuddered. "They're the worst..."

"But you're still a killer?" 

Azula sighed deeply. "Yes. Those are skills I have, Zuko. I was trained to be a weapon since I could spark flame, what was I supposed to do?" Azula ran her fingers through her short hair and ruffled it a moment. "For a long while I was doing odd jobs and begging on the street. I got so desperate, I thought about somehow joining the Earth Kingdom army under an alias...eventually I scraped by for a year working wheat fields but um--I had uh--issues with my employers..." Her eyes became distant. It was the same look she had in the asylum, where she saw people no one else did. Quickly as Zuko noticed the look, it was gone. "And I realized if I'm going to hide I needed to do it on my own terms. So, I dug up old contacts and found my way into the network. Assassination, kidnapping, body guarding...I've done a little of each. Because I can live a simple life and still have gold enough to protect myself and what's mine."

"What's yours?....do you have someone or?" Zuko seemed a bit taken about by her sister being so open that he found himself letting the walls fall. Which was a strange feeling to be aware of when you're sitting across from your possible assassin. 

"...maybe. It's new--kinda." Azula grinned. "Ty Lee says 'hi'. "

Zuko smiled back. "Good for you. "

"...Yeah good for me..." She says almost to herself. "I also have friends. I work in this tea house--"

"You work in a tea house!?" Zuko burst into a fit of loud chuckling. 

"Yeah? " Azula quirks her brow.

Zuko finished laughing and wiped his brow. "Sorry I didn't think we'd ever be able to bond over working in customer service. How do you like it?"

"Customers are garbage. " Zuko nods knowingly. "My boss...friend?...landlady? I don't know. She's nice. I also watch her grand kids sometimes. They're a handful." A joy spread across her face as she finished off her cup of tea. Then a sort of sadness filled her eyes. "It's so strange being around children allowed to be children..."

"Yeah. It sometimes feels weird trying to raise Izumi...Mai and I--we...well you understand how hard it is to relate to people."

Azula let out a light scoff. "That's an understatement, Zuko." She ran a finger along the edge of her tea cup and hummed. "I'm not going to kill you." She finally says. 

"Good." Zuko says simply. "I assume you're too honorable to take your gold back?"

"Honorable? No. But I'm also not stupid. If I spend that gold and don't complete my assignment it's theft and I'll be hunted by a organization run on blood. If I was alone and bored I might take it as a challenge, but I have responsibilities."

"Ty Lee?"

"Yes...though I don't think she'd like to be known as a 'responsibility'...makes her sound like a burden...I know what it's like to be a burden. She certainly is not that. She's the woman I love. God if I gathered up the courage to tell Ozai I loved women when I was thirteen we might all be in a better place..."

"Or you would have ended up dead." Zuko looked at Azula gravely. "You know how he felt about women loving women and men loving men. Grandfather too...I doubt even you at your most obedient could have surviving admitting that to him."

Azula let out a sharp exhale. "Probably. But then again...if I were dead I would have saved you and the Avatar a lot of trouble..." She got to her feet and wiped the corners of her mouth, to get any tea that may have stuck, and looked down at Zuko a moment. "It was an honor to share an audience with you, my Lord."

Zuko stood, smiling, and gave a nod. "The honor was all mine." 

Azula smiled and gave a deep bow of the flame. "May your reign be long and prosperous, Firelord Zuko." She turned and started climbing onto the windowsill. 

"'Zula... Look, the politics won't let allow me to rescind the exile...at least not yet...but, If I'm ever outside the Fire Nation...don't be a stranger." Azula gave him a look. "I mean it." 

She quirked her eyebrow and smiled. "Okay. Bye Firelord Zuko. Don't be an idiot while I'm not around to help you." She snickered and dropped out of the window, and out of view. 

"I wouldn't dream of it." Zuko said to himself, making his way to clean up the tea and examine the gold Azula left behind.


End file.
